Gardaí hit notorious gang after shutting down its 'fortress'

Two firearms, 300 rounds of ammunition and over €47,000 in cash was seized during the operation that involved five units of the gardaí. 

Gardaí believe they have taken the first step in dismantling a notorious drug gang that has terrorised a local community after shutting down its “stronghold”.

Sources said that in recent weeks two innocent families have had to dive for cover in their homes after shots hit one and an improvised bomb blasted shrapnel threw the windows of another.

In a massive operation on Thursday night, a team of garda units, backed up by the forces’ elite intervention squad, searched nine houses and back gardens in Finglas, north Dublin.

This included what is described as a “little fortress” where the gang ran its drug operation on Ratoath Drive.

This gang, operated by a well-known local individual, known as ‘Mr Flashy’, has been in a long-running feud with a South Finglas gang.

Sources said the property targeted had bullet proof windows and doors and had a CCTV system covering anyone or anything approaching it.

Gardaí knew that gang members were accessing the house by the rear, by climbing over a "warren" of back gardens of neighbouring houses.

They also established that the gang had access to firearms, which they suspected were stored in nearby back gardens, which they could access quickly.

In their search, gardaí recovered a powerful machine gun and an assault rifle along with 300 rounds of ammunition as well as €47,000 in cash.

'Heavy duty stuff'

A number of security sources have described the machine gun as “unusual” for Ireland and one thought to be more common in North and South America.

One source said it was “like something you’d see pointing out of a helicopter” and commented that the ammunition was “fairly heavy duty stuff that would fairly cut you up”.

A separate source thought it was a Mac10, which fired a .45ACP cartidge, which he also said was unusual this side of the Atlantic.

“It’ll penetrate a car door and easily kill the occupants,” the source said, speculating it might have come over with a cocaine shipment.

The guns are being subjected to DNA, fingerprint and ballistic examinations.

The seizures follow a spate of violent incidents in recent weeks in the feud, including shootings, bombings and the abduction and beating of a young man by the “fortress” gang.

Gardaí suspect that the feud may now deepen as a person connected with the youth is a veteran criminal in the area, who had been under the radar, but has now “come back into play” to go after the gang behind the attack.

The South Finglas gang is believed to be behind a number of petrol-bomb attacks on relatives of Mr Flashy, including his mother and aunt.

In the attack on the mother’s house, the gang threw a bomb over a back wall, but it landed in a neighbour's back garden.

The family inside thought that shots had come through their window but it was shrapnel from the explosion.

In another incident, gang members in the “fortress” opened fire at approaching rival gangsters, but some of the shots hit the home of an innocent family. They had children inside at the time and had to dive for cover.

Sources said the “fortress” gave the gang “a real sense of control over the community” and now that it was shut down, gardaí believe it is the first step in dismantling them, many of whom are kids in their mid-teens.

Gardaí suspect that if Mr Flashy flees abroad, the gang will dismantle.

There had been a legal problem with the house, as it was owned privately, but recently the local authority has been able to buy it.

The search operation on Thursday was conducted by the Blanchardstown District Detective Unit, the Task Force and the Divisional Crime Scenes Unit as well as the elite Emergency Response Unit and the Garda Dog Unit.